Santa Barbara Half Marathon & 5K: race review
Why this Southern California race is a better pick than some better known ones.

Most of my race reviews are of events to which I travel by plane. But this one is of a race that required only a short drive. That’s because the Santa Barbara Half Marathon takes place in the city I have called home for over 30 years.
This race is worth traveling to if you don’t live nearby. It’s a well-organized and fun event with a varied, scenic, and moderately challenging course held in a beautiful part of Southern California. The race is growing in popularity, and I believe it’s a better choice than some larger and more famous ones on the West Coast. This isn’t just hometown bias.
About Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is a coastal city about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. It’s generally considered part of Southern California, but is its own place, not part of the vast urban sprawl to the south. Nestled between the ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains, it has a temperate climate similar to that of the South of France or Cape Town. It mostly avoids the extremes of temperatures that can affect other parts of the state not too far away.
The city itself has a population of only around 90,000, but it’s part of a larger conurbation that also includes Goleta, just to the north, and Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria to the south, as well as some unincorporated areas that essentially merge. So the overall population of the Santa Barbara metropolitan area is closer to 250,000 depending on how you define its contours.
Goleta adjoins the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara. The university — which has racked up an impressive number of Nobel prizes in recent years — is the area’s largest employer. And tourism is its largest industry. The city has also long had a tech/scientific/aerospace presence. The best-known consumer-facing tech company based in the Santa Barbara metropolitan area is Sonos, the audio equipment manufacturer. Deckers — the footwear company whose brands include UGG and Hoka — also has its headquarters there. But, for the most part, there isn’t a large corporate America presence. So a characteristic of Santa Barbara is that a lot of people work either for themselves or for small enterprises — or, increasingly, live in Santa Barbara but work remotely. That contributes to its overall vibe.
Santa Barbara has some uber-wealthy enclaves. But these do not define the city. It has a mixed economic demographic and is a “real” place. Nonetheless, it’s an expensive area. Limited space and tight planning regulations restrict housing development. Consequently, not everyone employed in Santa Barbara can afford to live there. A fair few people commute from Ventura County to the south.
However, once you have worked out housing, Santa Barbara can be a very manageable place to live. By Southern California standards, traffic mostly moves pretty freely. You can find yourself rarely having to drive more than 15 or 20 minutes to get where you need to go. There’s easy access to beaches and mountain hiking trails. Not to mention great running paths at the waterfront and elsewhere, where I put in my weekly miles while enjoying ocean and mountain views. So there’s a lot of recreational opportunities that don’t cost anything.
Some people who live in Santa Barbara become a bit smug about life in and around the city, which can be irritating. But it is a pretty nice place to live if you can make it happen. It is also a great place to visit.
Santa Barbara — with its downtown architecture reflecting its Spanish colonial history — draws visitors from all over the world. Some visit the city as a destination in its own right. Others make it a stop on road trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In recent years, cruise ships plying the western United States have also made it a port of call. To the north — across the Gaviota Pass — lies some of California’s finest wine country.
The flow of visitors adds to the cosmopolitan vibe. Although Santa Barbara is a small city, it punches above its weight in its overall presence on a map. For example, its outdoor concert venue — the Bowl — draws artists who would not typically include towns of this size on their tours. It’s a good blend of small town with big city influences. Nonetheless, after living there for a while, one does begin to feel a bit of a country cousin when visiting places like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Event overview
The Santa Barbara Half Marathon — in its current incarnation (of which more shortly) — has been taking place for four years. The event consists of a Half Marathon, a 5K, and a kids’ fun run. In 2024, there were 3,783 finishers in the Half and 1,481 in the 5K — so 5,264 finishers in total. That’s an impressive number for a race that is still quite new in a smallish city.
In 2024, I only ran the 5K, not the Half. The reason is that after my unexpected heart issues detailed elsewhere on this blog, I was still rebuilding strength. However, I’ve run the Half twice, in 2021 and 2022. The 2022 course was identical to what it was in 2024, and the 2021 one was almost the same. So I feel I can give a review of the overall event. But, first, a bit of history.

A brief history of Santa Barbara half marathons
If you search for reviews of half marathons in Santa Barbara, you may stumble across some pretty bad ones. But any bad reviews you find will almost certainly be from 2017 or earlier. And that was for an entirely different race from the one that takes place now.
Once upon a time, there used to be a great race in Santa Barbara on the Saturday of Veterans Day weekend called the “Santa Barbara Veterans Day Marathon.” Initially, there was a full and a half marathon and the overall event attracted thousands of runners. I ran the half four times between 2012 and 2015. But, it went from great to terrible, with a series of organizational lapses and fiascos that culminated in 2017 with the half — the only remaining distance at that stage — being cancelled on the morning of race day when law enforcement pulled the plug on safety grounds due to a shortage of essential volunteers along the course. Fortunately, I had decided to sit that one out and I believe there were only a few hundred runners signed up. Some apparently banded together and worked out a way to run 13.1 miles together that morning anyway.
After that race finally folded, there was a smaller event — completely separate — which took place in June for a few years simply called the “Santa Barbara Half Marathon” (the same name as today’s race, but not the same race). This was a reinvention of one that preceded the Veterans Day event (before my running days). It was more like a community race, low-key but well-organized and with a nice course mostly along and close to the waterfront. This operated for a few years, but eventually yielded to a completely new and more ambitious race organized by Run Local, a California race organizer that puts on events in various parts of the state — mostly around the San Francisco Bay Area — with an emphasis on involving and supporting local community organizations. Its biggest event is the Oakland Marathon.
This current incarnation of the Santa Barbara Half Marathon debuted in 2021 and takes place early in November, either over the Veterans Day weekend or a week before. I have taken part in three of the four years and can attest to its organizational efficiency. However, efficiency — although important — is something you should be able to take for granted. Poor race organization may be a reason to avoid an event. But good organization is rarely the main reason for choosing it. The real reason to pick this as a destination race is more to do with the course and the overall experience.
The course and race experience
The current version of the Santa Barbara Half Marathon is the first one in the history of races in the city that takes in both the downtown and waterfront areas. That gives it a big advantage over previous versions, which combined some waterfront — not much in some iterations — with less interesting, mostly residential areas.
Today’s race offers a truly magnificent course, both varied and challenging. It begins on State Street, the main downtown drag, fairly close to the pier. It then turns right to parallel the waterfront — with ocean views — before beginning a roughly two-mile climb, the second mile of which is more residential. The climb is a fairly serious one. But the course then turns back and gives runners the same roughly two miles of glorious downhill before rejoining the flat waterside area and continuing past the pier — close to the start line — and further along for another couple of miles before turning around and passing the pier again and then entering the downtown portion.

The last portion is tough, as it includes a second roughly two-mile uphill stretch beginning around mile 10. This isn’t as steep as the first uphill, but it comes at a time when runners are most likely to be getting tired. The good news is that the final mile-and-a-bit is all downhill, passing through the heart of downtown to the finish on State Street, close to where the race started. There’s lots of crowd support during that final mile, in particular.

Although Santa Barbara has great running paths at the waterfront — which share with bikes and pedestrians — all of the race is on roads, either fully closed or partially coned off. This places you a little further from the ocean than if you were out on a run on your own, but the running paths would be too narrow to accommodate the volume of people. That doesn’t bother me. I like closed-road races, as they create more of a sense of an “event.”

My advice to anyone running this race is to keep enough energy in the bank for that second uphill portion. When I ran it in 2022, my first 10 miles had me headed for a sub-two-hour finish — fast by my standards — but I crashed around mile 11, so that I finished in 2 hours 4 minutes. The year before, I ran a more stable race at 2 hours 7 minutes. Personally, I find it more satisfying to run a controlled race in which I finish strong than to struggle at the end — even if the controlled race is a bit slower overall.
The half marathon begins at 7 AM and the 5K — which is what I ran in 2024 — takes off an hour and a half later. Like those in the half, the 5K runners get a full send-off with a rendering of the national anthem. The 5K course starts in the same place and then turns left long the waterfront, where you run against participants in the half coming from the opposite direction. It then turns around — so that you run with half participants for a while — before heading a bit into downtown and joining State Street to finish along with the half. The 5K is pretty flat overall, except for a short, modest uphill in the last mile or so. Runners finishing the 5K get the same medal as those completing the half.
The time of year
Early November is a perfect time for running in Santa Barbara. The rain hasn’t usually begun — even in years where there is a fair amount — and early-morning temperatures are generally a bit crisp. Unlike during parts of the summer when fog gets trapped between the ocean and mountains creating what locals call a “June gloom” effect lasting well into the day, the November skies are usually clear and deep blue with great visibility. It’s also a good time to visit. Most of the tourists have gone, taking pressure off hotel prices.
Before and after the race
As with most races, the price increases the nearer you get to the date. You can get in for less than $100 if you are an early bird, but will pay somewhat more closer to the event. The race website states that the 2024 event sold out. But this isn’t one of those races that sells out way ahead of the day.
Packet pick-up takes place on the Friday and Saturday before the race on the Sunday. But it closes at 2 PM on the Saturday. That’s quite early and might be an issue for people coming in from out of town. Fortunately, however, there’s an extra-cost race-morning pick-up option.
Pick-up took place at a park close to the waterfront, not far from where the race starts, and with easy parking nearby. It was a livelier occasion than the last time I did this race two years earlier, when pick-up took place in a parking lot with little to make you want to stick around once you’d collected your bib and shirt. This year, there was a small expo as well as music and kids’ activities and presentations to get runners informed and motivated. They call it a “festival.” Hoka, the main event sponsor, was present with an outlet booth.
The race organizers put some effort into coming up with shirt designs every year, working with local artists. The current race has always had long-sleeved shirts. Personally, I much prefer short-sleeved ones. But, sleeve preferences aside, I was disappointed by this year’s shirt. The aesthetics were fine. But although the material wasn’t cotton, it had a cotton-like feel to it. It didn’t seem like the sort of shirt I’d want to wear when breaking a sweat on a run. (Full disclosure: I am a heavy sweater.) So it went in the give-away pile.
I always wear race shirts when running. And I like having them included in the base race price (even though I often end up with too many). But if economics don’t allow for the sort of shirt I’d actually want to wear while running, I’d much rather they were an optional extra. I’ve noticed that race organizers outside the U.S. are increasingly de-bundling shirts, and I don’t have a problem with that.
There’s also a sort of expo on race day itself, which runners can check out either before or after the race. This is on a side street close to the start area that leads into a part of town known as the “Funk Zone.” That area — which has in recent years revitalized what used to be a run-down, light-industrial part of town — is known for breweries, wine bars, and restaurants. Race entrants are given a coupon good for a beer at one of three places in the Funk Zone any time over race weekend. I’d rate the liveliness of the start and finish area above average.
Travel and logistics
Santa Barbara is easy to get to. If you are coming by air, it is served by the five largest U.S. airlines or their regional affiliates — Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United. Most flights come in from the western states, but there is nonstop service from as far afield as Atlanta. You can also get there by train on Amtrak (with great ocean views if coming from the south).
Downtown Santa Barbara — where the race starts and finishes — is very walkable if you choose not to have a car. There are plenty of hotel choices within walking distance of the race. If driving, Santa Barbara is about two hours on average from LAX, and about five hours from SFO to the north.
How it compares
I wrote earlier that Santa Barbara, as a city, punches above its weight. The same can be said about the Santa Barbara Half Marathon when it comes to comparing it with large races in other parts of California. The largest oceanfront race in the state is — I believe — Surf City, which is held in February in Huntington Beach in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. That event — which also includes a full marathon — attracts a sizable field. I’ve run the half four times — all between 2015 and 2022 — and it’s not a bad event. The fact is I kept on coming back.
But the Santa Barbara race has a more interesting and varied course with better ocean views. With Surf City, the view can be blocked during portions of the race by endless parked RVs, and parts are a bit monotonous. Plus there aren’t any moderately priced hotels within walking distance of the race start and finish, so it’s not a great event for travel logistics. If choosing between Surf City and Santa Barbara for the 13.1 distance, I’d go for the latter. And I think Santa Barbara also compares well with other much larger California races I’ve run on multiple occasions, such as San Francisco and San Diego Rock-’n’-Roll.
There’s one other Santa Barbara County race worth mentioning and that is the Wine Country Half, which is held in May. This takes places about 45 minutes drive to the north. It’s a largely rural race starting and finishing in Solvang, a small town that plays to a Danish cultural connection. I’ve run that one eight times (although the course has changed over time). It, too, is a great race with a fantastic course. Personally, I slightly prefer the city one in Santa Barbara, but the two complement one another nicely.
Conclusion
Pros: Great and varied course with ocean views and downtown segments; well organized; lively start and finish. Cons: A fair amount of uphill makes it moderately challenging (if you consider that a “con,” and you get to enjoy corresponding downhill); race shirt in 2024 was a bit disappointing. Sum-up: A great mid-sized “destination” Southern California race. ✈️ 🏃
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